Hizb ut-Tahrir: An Emerging Threat to U.S. Interests in Central Asia

Hizb
ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) is an emerging
threat to American interests in Central and South Asia and the
Middle East. It is a clandestine, cadre-operated, radical Islamist
political organization that operates in 40 countries around the
world, with headquarters apparently in London. Its proclaimed goal
is jihad against America and the overthrow of existing political
regimes and their replacement with a Caliphate (Khilafah in
Arabic), a theocratic dictatorship based on the Shari'a (religious
Islamic law). The model for Hizb is the "righteous" Caliphate, a
militaristic Islamic state that existed in the 7th and 8th
centuries under Mohammad and his first four successors, known as
the "righteous Caliphs."

The
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks taught the United States a
painful lesson--that it must be alert to emerging threats,
including terrorism and other destabilizing activities against its
military assets, citizens, and allies. Some of these emerging
threats, combined with the actions of terrorist jihadi
organizations, such as al-Qaeda, may also generate political
instability in key geographic areas and threaten friendly regimes.
In Central Asia, the security situation has deteriorated because
the war against Saddam Hussein's regime has intensified the resolve
of anti-American forces already active in the region.1

The
United States has important national security interests at stake in
Central Asia, including access to the military bases used to
support operations in Afghanistan, preventing the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and technologies for their production,
and securing access to natural resources, including oil and gas.
The U.S. is also committed to spreading democracy, promoting market
reforms, and improving human rights standards in the vast heartland
of Eurasia.

Therefore, to prevent Hizb ut-Tahrir from
destabilizing Central Asia and other areas, the U.S. should expand
intelligence collection on Hizb. The U.S. should encourage Central
Asian governments to pursue reforms that will expand civil society
and diminish the alienation on which Hizb and fundamentalist
Islamist movements are preying. Specifically, the U.S. should
condition security assistance on economic reform, encourage
democracy and popular participation, discredit radical Islamist
movements, and support religious and political moderation and
pluralism.

A MODERN FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENT

Hizb
ut-Tahrir al-Islami is an emerging threat to American interests and
the countries in which it operates. It has 5,000-10,000 hard-core
members, and many more supporters in former Soviet Central Asia
(e.g., Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan), and is expanding
its operations to oil-rich Kazakhstan. Over 10,000 members are
active in Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, and Indonesia.2 At least 500 are
already behind bars in Uzbekistan alone, and hundreds are in
custody in the Middle East.3 By breeding violent anti-American
attitudes, attempting to overthrow existing regimes, and preparing
cadres for more radical Islamist organizations, Hizb poses a threat
to U.S. interests in Central Asia and elsewhere in the Islamic
world where moderate regimes are found.

Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani al Falastini,
the founder of Hizb, has written that every Muslim should strive to
establish a Caliphate and that this religious imperative (fard)
upon the Muslim nation (Umma) is so strong that Mohammad's close
allies delayed burying his body until a new Caliph was appointed
and the Caliphate established.4 The Caliphate would be led by a Caliph:
a supreme, pious leader who would combine religious and political
power.5

A
Caliph, an-Nabhani believes, is a substitute for Mohammad as both
political and religious leader. The Caliph would appoint an Amir,
or military leader, who would declare jihad and wage war against
all non-believers, including the United States. According to Hizb's
political vision, such an entity, if established, would not
recognize existing national, regional, tribal, or clan differences
and would include all Muslims.

An-Nabhani has drafted the constitution of
this future Caliphate. It is not the constitution of a democratic
state. The Caliph would be appointed by acclamation by "prominent
men," with male voters casting a vote of approval. The ruler would
not be directly accountable to the people, and there would be no
checks or balances between branches of government. Succession would
be by designation of the Caliph or acclamation of the
oligarchy.

Thus, Hizb explicitly rejects democracy.
In fact, one of an-Nabhani's books is titled Democracy: The Law of
Infidels.6 Yet some
regional observers have called for the legitimization of Hizb and
its integration into the existing political model.7 In doing so, they
ignore the obvious--Hizb's goal is to smash the existing state
apparatus, not to become a player within it.

Radical Islamic
RootsSince its inception in 1952 in Jordanian-occupied East
Jerusalem, Hizb has gained tens of thousands of followers from
London to Lahore.8
From its beginning, an-Nabhani's organization was influenced by the
rabid anti-Semitism propagated by Sheikh Hajj Amin Al-Housseini,
the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a major Nazi war
collaborator.9

An-Nabhani, who was serving at the time on
the Islamic appellate court in Jerusalem, was an associate and
contemporary of Hajj Amin's.10 He also drew on the organizational
principles of Marxism-Leninism, which were quite well-known among
the middle- and upper-class Arabs in British Mandate Palestine.
Khaled Hassan, one of the founders of the Fatah faction of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, was also among the founders of
Hizb ut-Tahrir, as was Sheikh Asaad Tahmimi, who became Islamic
Jihad's spiritual leader.11 Hizb supported the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait in 1991 and backs the Islamic Salvation Front of Algeria, a
radical movement on the U.S. State Department's terrorism list.12

An-Nabhani was also member of the radical
Islamic Brotherhood (Al Ihwan al-Muslimeen), a secretive
international fundamentalist organization founded in Egypt in 1928,
which spread throughout the Islamic world and preaches the
establishment of a Caliphate. He joined the Brotherhood while
studying in Cairo's Al-Azhar University but later left the
Brotherhood because he considered it too soft.13 It is likely that Hizb was supported
initially by the Saudi-based radical Islamist Wahhabi movement,
although the extent to which that support continues today is
unclear.14

A SHADOW GLOBAL ORGANIZATION

Hizb ut-Tahrir's spread around the globe,
in Western Europe and often in authoritarian states with strong
secret police organizations, is impressive. It could be
accomplished only by applying 20th century totalitarian political
"technology" melded with Islamic notions of the 7th and 8th
centuries, as interpreted by medieval Islamic scholars. The genius
of Hizb founder an-Nabhani was marrying Orthodox Islamist ideology
to Leninist strategy and tactics.

The Leninist
Model Hizb ut-Tahrir is a totalitarian organization, akin to a
disciplined Marxist-Leninist party, in which internal dissent is
neither encouraged nor tolerated. Because its goal is global
revolution, a leading Islamic scholar has compared it to the
Trotskyite wing of the international communist movement.15 Its candidate members
become well-versed in party literature during a two-year
indoctrination course in a study circle, supervised by a party
member. Only when a member "matures in Party culture," "adopts the
thoughts and opinions of the party," and "melts with the Party" can
he or she become a full-fledged member.16 Women are organized in cells
supervised by a female cadre or a male relative. After joining the
party, the new recruit may be requested (or ordered) to relocate to
start a new cell.

When a critical mass of cells is achieved,
according to its doctrine, Hizb may move to take over a country in
preparation for the establishment of the Caliphate. Such a takeover
would likely be bloody and violent. Moreover, its strategy and
tactics show that, while the party is currently circumspect in
preaching violence, it will justify its use--just as Lenin and the
Bolsheviks did--when a critical mass is achieved.17

Hizb's platform and actions fit in with
"Islamist globalization"--an alternative mode of globalization
based on radical Islam. This ideology poses a direct challenge to
the Western model of a secular, market-driven, tolerant,
multicultural globalization.18

Where radicalization has taken hold in the
Islamic world, Hizb has gained new supporters in droves. It
operates clandestinely in over 40 countries around the world, with
members organized in cells of five to eight members each. Only a
cell commander knows the next level of leadership, ensuring
operational security. "Representatives" in Great Britain and
Pakistan claim to speak for the organization but have no official
address or legal office. Leadership for large regions (e.g., the
former Soviet Union), countries, and local areas is kept
secret.

Hizb's primary characteristics include the
fiery rhetoric of jihad, secret cells and operations, murky funding
sources, rejection of existing political regimes, rapid
transnational growth, and outlook and goals that are shared with
al-Qaeda and other organizations of the global jihadi movement.

Anti-Americanism Hizb has called for a jihad against the U.S., its allies,
and moderate Muslim states. The purpose of the jihad is "to find
and kill the Kufar (non-believers)," in fact rejecting the Islamic
notion of Greater Jihad against one's own as a sin.19

In
documents drafted before 9/11, Hizb leaders accused the United
States of imposing hegemony on the world. After 9/11, Hizb claimed
that the U.S. had declared war against the global Muslim community
(Umma), had established an international alliance under the
"pretext" of fighting terrorism, and was reinforcing its grip on
the countries of Central Asia. Hizb further claimed that the U.S.
accused Osama bin Laden of being responsible for the 9/11 attacks
"without any evidence or proof."

The
party attempted to use its influence by calling upon all Muslim
governments to reject the U.S. appeal for cooperation in the war
against terrorism.20
It called for expulsion of U.S. and Western citizens, including
Western diplomats, from countries in which it will take power and
shredding diplomatic treaties and agreements with Western
governments. It further declared:

Muslims! You are religiously obliged to
reject this American question which takes you lightly and despises
you. America does not have the sublime values that entitle it to
tell you what to support and whom to fight against. You possess a
divine mission. You are the ones to bring guidance and light to
mankind. God described you with the following words: "You are the
best people brought forth for the benefit of mankind. You enjoin
good and forbid evil. And you believe in God."

As for Jihad...it is legal, in fact it is
an obligation, it is the apex of Islamic ethics, as Almighty God
says, "Keep in store for them whatever you are capable of, force
and equipment with which you can frighten those who are enemies of
God and enemies of yourselves...." God's Messenger (Mohammed) said,
"Islam is the head, prayer is the backbone and Jihad is the
perfection."

Muslims! The law of religion does not
allow you to give to America what it is trying to impose upon you.
You are not allowed to follow its orders or to provide it with any
assistance whatsoever, no matter whether it be intelligence or
facilities of using your territory, your air space or your
territorial waters. It is not permissible to cede military bases to
the Americans, nor it is allowed to coordinate any military
activities with them or to collaborate with them. It is not allowed
to enter into an alliance with them or to be loyal to them, because
they are enemies of Islam and Muslims. God said, "Believers, Do not
befriend my enemy and your enemy.... They have rejected the truth
that has come to you."21

In a
June 2001 article published in the party's journal, Hizb
ideologists claim that all methods are justified in the struggle
against the unbelievers, including murder. They specifically
mention that a pilot's diving a plane hit by enemy fire into a
crowd of unbelievers without bailing out with a parachute is a
legitimate form of armed struggle. Hizb also demands that Muslims
come to the support of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.22

According to Hizb, the main targets of
jihad--in addition to moderate Muslim regimes such as Jordan,
Pakistan, Egypt, and Uzbekistan--are America and the Jews.

[T]he war waged by America, the head of
Kufr, and Britain and their allies from the Kafir states on
Afghanistan is a crusade.... What America and Britain are doing is
displaying their enmity for the Islamic Ummah. They are enemies; a
state of war exists between them and all the Muslims that
necessitates adopting an actual state of war as a basis for dealing
with them according to the dictates of the Shari'ah rules. That
position should be adopted with them and all those who ally
themselves with them in their war against the Muslims.23

The war of America and her allies against
Islam and the Muslims has shown the corrupt nature of her
civilization and her colonial world-view. The War on Iraq...has
demonstrated that America and her allies only strive to colonize
and plunder the resources of the Islamic world, not to bring about
justice and security.... America is intending to deceive you....
[S]he is inherently weak as her ideology is false and corrupt....
The time has come for Islam not just in Iraq but in this entire
Ummah. It is time for the Islamic State (Khilafah) to lead the
world and save the world from the crimes and oppression of the
capitalist system.24

According to one of the Hizb Central Asian
leaders, "we are very much opposed to the Jews and Israel.... Jews
must leave Central Asia. The United States is the enemy of Islam
with the Jews."25

Anti-Americanism, extremism, and preaching
the violent overthrow of existing regimes make Hizb ut-Tahrir a
prime suspect in the next wave of violent political action in
Central Asia and other Muslim countries with relatively weak
regimes, such as Pakistan and Indonesia.

Stages of
Struggle, Jihad, and ViolenceHizb ut-Tahrir sees its struggle in parallel with the
three stages that Mohammad experienced en route to the
establishment of the Caliphate 1,400 years ago. These are spreading
the word of God to the communities of Arabia; the flight from Mecca
to Medina in order to establish the first Islamic community there;
and, finally, the conquest of Mecca, jihad, and the establishment
of the Caliphate.

Similarly, Hizb divides its strategy into
three stages:

"Production of people who believe in the
idea and the method of the Party so that they form the Party group"
(recruitment and agitation, establishment of cells);

"Interaction with the Ummah; to let the
Ummah embrace and carry Islam" (Islamization); and

"Establishing government, implementing
Islam generally and comprehensively, and carrying it as a message
to the world" (revolutionary takeover and Jihad).26

In
the past, members of Hizb participated in coups against pro-Western
regimes in the Middle East, such as the failed 1968 officers' coup
against King Hussein II of Jordan.27 Despite its authoritarian and highly
disciplined cadre structure, Hizb claimed that members who
participated in the coup did so in an "individual capacity."
However, more recently, Hizb representatives, together with the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, participated in coordination
meetings sponsored by al-Qaeda in the Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan.

Numerous Middle Eastern countries and
Germany, where Hizb is establishing links with the neo-Nazis, have
taken steps to outlaw its activities. Moreover, the Party clearly
states that

Jihad has to continue till the Day of
Judgment. So whenever disbelieving enemies attack an Islamic
country it becomes compulsory on its Muslim citizens to repel the
enemy. The members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in that country are part of
the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them as [it] is upon other
Muslims (not resident in that country) in their capacity as
Muslims, to fight the enemy and expel them. Whenever there is a
Muslim amir who declares jihad to enhance the Word of Allah and
mobilizes the people to do that, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir will
respond in their capacity as Muslims in the country where the
general call to arms was proclaimed.28

At
this time, Hizb ut-Tahrir aims to seize power and supplant existing
governments in Central Asia and elsewhere with an Islamist version
based on Shari'a for the purpose of jihad against the West, which
includes the following:

"A struggle against Kufr (non-believer)
states which have domination and influence over the Islamic
countries. The challenge against colonialism in all its
intellectual, political, economic, and military forms, involves
exposing its plans, and revealing its conspiracies in order to
deliver the Ummah from its control and to liberate it."29

"A struggle against the rulers in the Arab
and Muslim countries by exposing them, taking them to task, acting
to change them whenever they have denied the rights of the Ummah or
neglected to perform their duty towards her, or ignored any of her
affairs, and whenever they disagreed with the rules of Islam, and
acting also to remove their regimes so as to establish the Islamic
rule in its place."30

Hizb
also seeks to penetrate state structures and convert government
officials and military officers to its creed. Its platform openly
states that "the Party started to seek the support of the
influential people with two objectives in mind:

So that it could manage to continue its
daw'ah (Islamic appeal) while secure from affliction

To take over the rule in order to
establish the Khilafah and apply Islam."31

Hizb
has begun to penetrate the elites in Central Asia. Observers in the
region have reported successes in penetrating the Parliament in
Kyrgyzstan, the media in Kazakhstan, and customs offices in
Uzbekistan.

WHAT IS AT STAKE

U.S.
strategic interests in Central Asia include both access to the
military bases needed for operations in Afghanistan and deterring
the establishment of safe havens for terrorist organizations. The
U.S. is seeking to prevent a country, a group of countries, or a
transnational movement or organization from establishing hegemonic
control in the region. This includes barring transnational Islamic
fundamentalist organizations and drug cartels from emerging as
ruling bodies or dominant regional power centers.

The
U.S. must also prevent Central Asia from becoming an arsenal of
dangerous weaponry and should prevent the development and
production of weapons of mass destruction in the region, to
preclude them from falling into the hands of rogue regimes or
terrorists. Furthermore, the U.S. needs to ensure equal access to
the energy resources of the region, primarily in the Caspian Sea
area, and encourage development of the East-West transportation and
economic corridors, also known as the Silk Road. Finally, the U.S.
should encourage economic reform, expansion of civic space,
democratization, and development of open society in the region.32

The
secular regimes of Central Asia have little to no democratic
legitimacy. Most of their rulers are Soviet-era communist party
leaders. Almost no political space is left for secular opposition
in these states. U.S. objectives are thus jeopardized not only by
the authoritarian parties of radical Islamic revolution such as
Hizb, but also by the authoritarian nature of these Central Asian
regimes themselves, with their rampant corruption, declining living
standards, poor delivery of public goods and services, and stagnant
or declining economies. By governing so poorly and being intolerant
and undemocratic, these regimes inadvertently breed religious
extremism.33

In
this environment, Hizb ut-Tahrir has captured a protest niche that
otherwise would be occupied by a legitimate political opposition.
Despite this, the U.S. government, along with the policy analysis
and expert communities as well as governments in the region and
around the world, has yet to attain a clear picture of Hizb's real
size and strength and threat it poses.

WHAT THE U.S. DOES NOT KNOW

While reports of increasing Hizb activity
abound, the extent to which local Hizb activities are part of a
coordinated global plan is still unknown, just as the question of
whether every region and country has an autonomous leadership that
defines programs and sets deadlines remains unanswered. Hizb is
rumored to be operating on a 13-year grand plan which, if it exists
at all, is still unknown.

At
its inception, Hizb likely had strong connections to Saudi
Wahhabism, but it is unclear whether these links remain today. It
is equally unclear whether Hizb has one or more state sponsors and,
if so, who they are. At various times, experts have speculated that
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan have been
involved. The international intelligence community is also
uncertain as to who finances the organization; who controls the
funds internally; what the mode of financing is (e.g., regional
self-sufficiency or centralized funding); and how funds are
transferred (e.g., via the Hawala informal banking system or
couriers).

The
current leader of Hizb is also unknown, as are where he resides and
the identity of the senior officers of Hizb. Upon his death,
an-Nabhani was succeeded by Sheikh Abd-el Qadim Zaloom, another
Palestinian cleric and a former professor at Al-Azhar in Cairo.34 Zaloom was with Hizb
for 50 years and died on April 29, 2003.35 While anecdotal reports place the
organization's headquarters in London and indicate that many
European converts to Islam are staffing mid- and senior levels of
the organization, very little evidence confirms this. These
questions need to be answered, and a joint international program of
collecting intelligence on Hizb and countering its activities must
be developed.

WHAT THE U.S. SHOULD DO

The
U.S. and its allies in the war on terrorism need to recognize that
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a growing threat in Central Asia. Specifically,
to develop a comprehensive strategy and counter Hizb's influence,
the U.S. should:

Expand
intelligence collection on Hizb ut-Tahrir. This needs to
be done both in Western Europe and in outlying areas, such as
Central Asia, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Most important is
information on state sponsorship, leadership, finances, intentions
and capabilities, time lines, links with violent terrorist groups,
and penetration of state structures. The U.S. intelligence
community should work with the United Kingdom's MI5 and MI6 and
with the intelligence services of Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and
the Central Asian states. U.S. analysts and policymakers, however,
should be aware that some of the regimes in question will attempt
to portray Hizb as a terrorist organization with links to Osama bin
Laden.36

Condition
security assistance to Central Asia on economic reform.
Hizb is growing in Central Asia due to the "revolution of
diminishing expectations," increasing despair, and the lack of
secular political space and economic opportunity in the region.37 While some are
attracted to Hizb's harsh version of radical Islam, others see it
is as an outlet for their frustration with the status quo and an
instrument for upward mobility. U.S. assistance to Central Asian
countries, which has doubled since 9/11, has not changed the
economic dynamics in the region, and most of the funds were
understandably earmarked for security cooperation and military
assistance.

To jump-start economic development, the
Bush Administration should condition Pentagon security assistance
on the adoption of free market policies, strengthening property
rights and the rule of law, encouraging transparency, and fighting
corruption. These measures are likely to make the Central Asian
economies more attractive to private investment, stimulate domestic
economic growth, and increase prosperity and economic opportunity,
thus diminishing the ability of Hizb to use economic decline as an
engine for recruitment, as it does in the Ferghana Valley and
Kyrgyzstan.

Encourage
democracy and popular participation. The scarcity of
secular and moderate Islamic democratic politics and credible
non-governmental organization (NGO) activities and the lack of
freedom of expression may be driving thousands of young recruits to
join Hizb in Central Asia, especially in Uzbekistan. There have
been no democratic elections in the region for several years, and
the opposition press is either nonexistent or severely curbed.
Hizb, as well as jihadi organizations, recruits from among
alienated students and urban youth, frustrated with the status quo
and facing limited futures.

While economic opportunity, religious
freedom, and freedom of expression are not a panacea against
Islamist radicalism, as the swelling ranks of young Islamic
fundamentalists in Western Europe demonstrate, expanding the civic
space and allowing more political pluralism, media diversity, and
grassroots initiatives may diminish Hizb's appeal. According to a
representative of a major U.S. NGO, some liberalization of the
nonprofit sector has been attained in the Central Asian countries
since 9/11. This trend needs to be encouraged.38

The U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the State Department should, however,
coordinate their activities with the Pentagon, World Bank, and the
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, all of which are
interested in political stability, reducing corruption, and
development of property rights and a more investment-oriented
environment. Together, they are more likely to convince the Central
Asian regimes to undertake further political liberalization,
including competitive, free and fair elections.

Discredit
radicals and encourage moderates. The U.S. should
encourage local governments to not only crack down on radical Islam
(as they already do), but also encourage alternatives. Uzbekistan
has reportedly jailed hundreds of Hizbi activists. The Union of
Councils' Central Asian Information Network has documented
disappearances, 14 deaths in detention, and over 500 political
prisoners in Uzbekistan.39 Human Rights Watch claims that
thousands of Central Asian prisoners could qualify as political,
including many members of Hizb, who receive 15-17 year sentences
for minor offenses such as leaflet distribution.40

The State Department and U.S.-funded NGOs
should encourage more U.S. media exposure (e.g., Uzbek and other
local language broadcasts by Radio Liberty and the Voice of
American) and educational contacts, speaking engagements, and
exchanges between local clergy and moderate Muslim leaders in the
West.41 The Central
Asian public needs to be directly exposed to traditional moderate
local brands of Islam, Sufi mystical branches (Tariq'at), and
reformist moderate Jadidi Islam.

Beyond that, secular regimes in Central
Asia should stop persecuting new evangelical Christian
denominations, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians. Development of
independent media and activities aimed at youth, women, the
business community, and ethnic and religious minorities--groups
more likely to be discriminated against by Hizb and other radical
Sunni groups--should be encouraged and supported.42

However, Hizb, as well as Salafi/Wahhabi
and other radical Islamic schools that preach jihad against America
and the West, should not be allowed to operate. The U.S. should
provide support to local media to cover negative examples of the
application of Shari'a law, such as amputations for minor offenses
or alcohol possession in Chechnya, Afghanistan under the Taliban,
Saudi Arabia, and other places. The consequences of jihad-type
civil war, such as in Algeria, which left 100,000-200,000 dead,
should also be covered. Positive coverage of the West should also
be supported.

CONCLUSION

Hizb
ut-Tahrir represents a growing medium- and long-term threat to
geopolitical stability and the secular regimes of Central Asia and
ultimately poses a potential threat to other regions of the world.
The party is transnational, secretive, and extremist in its
anti-Americanism. It seeks to overthrow and destroy existing
regimes and establish a Shari'a-based Caliphate.

Hizb
may launch terrorist attacks against U.S. targets and allies,
operating either alone or in cooperation with other global
terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. A Hizb takeover of any Central
Asian state could provide the global radical Islamist movement with
a geographic base and access to the expertise and technology to
manufacture weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. and its allies
must do everything possible to avoid such an outcome.

Ariel Cohen,
Ph.D., is Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies
in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International
Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

3.Union of Councils
Central Asian Information Network, "Uzbekistan: List of 14 Possible
Political Prisoners Who Died in Jail, 5 Disappearances and 505
Possible Political Prisoners," at
www.eurasianet.org/resource/uzbekistan/links/uzrt916.html.

4.Taqiuddin an-Nabhani,
Khilafa, quoted in Alima Bissenova, "Hizb al-Tahrir Political
Thought from the Pan-Islamic Perspective," paper presented at the
8th Annual Convention of the Association for Study of
Nationalities, New York, April 2003, p. 6.

5.Al-Mawardi, The
Ordinances of Government (United Kingdom: Garnett Publishing,
1996). An-Nabhani based his judgment on the work of Al-Mawardi, the
first Islamic scholar who decreed the necessity of establishing the
Caliphate. See Bissenova, "Hizb al-Tahrir Political Thought from
the Pan-Islamic Perspective," pp. 8-11.

6."Hizb-ut-Tahrir na
`Svobode,'" (Hizb-ut-Tahrir at Radio Liberty); Vremia Po (Almaty,
Kazakhstan), July 22, 2001; interview with Vitaly Ponomarev,
coordinator of Central Asian program of the Moscow human rights
group Memorial, available at FBIS.

10."While in Baghdad,
al-Husseini aided the pro-Nazi revolt of 1941. He then spent the
rest of World War II as Hitler's special guest in Berlin,
advocating the extermination of Jews in radio broadcasts to the
Middle East and recruiting Balkan Muslims for the infamous SS
`mountain divisions' that tried to wipe out Jewish communities
throughout the region." See "Who was the Grand Mufti, Haj Muhammed
Amin al-Husseini?" at
www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php.

19.Sidik Aukbur, "The True
Meaning of Jihad," Khilafah, May 2003, at
www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=7059&TagID24.

20."Alliance with America
Is a Capital Crime Prohibited by Islam," Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflet,
September 18, 2001, at www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org.

21."Alliance with America
Is a Capital Crime Prohibited by Islam," Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflet,
September 18, 2001, at www.khilafah.com/home/category_list.php?

22.Hizb ut-Tahrir,
"America and Britain Declare War Against Islam and the Muslims,"
communiqué, October 14, 2001, at
www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=2428&TagID=3.

23.Ibid.

24.Hizb-ut Tahrir Britain,
"An Open Letter from Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain to the Iraqi Opposition
Groups Conferring in Their Conference in London," December 13,
2002, at
www.islamic-state.org/leaflets/021213_OpenLetterToIraqiOppositionConfLondon.pdf.

25.Ahmed Rashid, "Asking
for Holy War," International Eurasian Institute
for Economic and Political Research, at
iicas.org/english/enlibrary/libr_22_11_00_1.htm.

32."U.S. Interests in the
Central Asian Republics," Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,
Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of
Representatives, 105th Cong., 2nd Sess., February 12, 1998, at
commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0f.htm.

33.Ariel Cohen, "U.S.
Interests in Central Asia," testimony before the
U.S. House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific , March 17,
1999, at
www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/Test031799.cfm.

35."Hizb ut-Tahrir
Announces the Death of Its Ameer," at
www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/leaflets/leaflet4.htm.

36.Rashid, "Reviving the
Caliphate," p. 135. Under the auspices of the Taliban,
representatives of Hizb attended meetings in Kabul, Afghanistan, in
which the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Al-Qaeda also
participated.

37.Ibid., pp. 135-136.

38.Personal interview with
a source who requests not to be identified, April 2003.

39.Union of Councils
Central Asian Information Network, "Uzbekistan: List of 14 Possible
Political Prisoners Who Died in Jail, 5 Disappearances and 505
Possible Political Prisoners."

41."Muslim Clerics Visit
U.S.," Caspian Business News, December 16, 2002, p. 12, at
www.caspianbusinessnews.com/NewSite/preview/sections/regional/docs/16-12-2002.pdf.
However, USAID, which is funding visits to the U.S. by Central
Asian clergy so they can learn how Islam functions in a democracy,
should be careful not to expose them to U.S.-based Wahhabis, who
are actively abusing the democratic system.

42.Ariel Cohen, "Promoting
Freedom and Democracy: Fighting the War of Ideas Against Islamic
Terrorism," Comparative Strategy, June 2003, forthcoming.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) istransnational, extremely anti-American, and could launch terroristattacks against U.S. targets and allies, either alone or incooperation with other global terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. AHizb takeover of any Central Asian state could provide the radicalIslamist movement with a geographic base and access to theexpertise and technology to manufacture weapons of massdestruction.

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About the Author

Ariel Cohen, Ph.D.Visiting Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign and National Security Policy, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation

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